After the Settlement

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes Divorce Settlement: 6 Unsolved Mysteries

From how Cruise and Holmes met to how much money Katie will receive, six questions that remain unanswered in the wake of the former power couple’s swift and secretive divorce settlement.

How did they meet?

Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise’s whirlwind romance was a mystery from the day they met. They made their first public appearance in Rome on April 27, 2005. One month later Cruise, then 42, was bouncing up and down on Oprah’s couch, flailing his arms as he announced to the public that he was crazy ... in love with the 26-year-old actress. In a 2007 interview with Harper’s Bazaar, Holmes said their first date was “in Los Angeles, my first motorcycle ride ... to the beach. It was amazing and fast. I was in love from the moment that I shook his hand for the first time."

Somehow the paparazzi missed that public display of affection, perhaps because Holmes made it up after watching Top Gunone too many times, while strapped in a chair in a dark dungeon wearing some device that forced her not to blink (you never know with these two). In his book, Blown for Good: Behind the Iron Curtain of Scientology, former Scientologist Marc Headley claimed that Cruise “auditioned” a series of actresses to play the role of his wife, including Penélope Cruz, fellow Scientologist Erika Christensen, and Scarlett Johansson. Holmes reportedly was scouted for the part after she said in an interview that she’d like to marry Tom Cruise. Somewhere between the Sistine Chapel and the Church of Scientology, Holmes got pregnant with Suri, who was born only one year after the couple “met” in Rome.

Watch our mashup of Tom Cruise's unearthed Scientology video.

Were they ever actually in love?

Absolutely, if the robotic declarations of love that effused from Holmes’s mouth in the early years were sincere. “I’ve found the man of my dreams,” Holmes told Wmagazine in an interview six weeks into dating Cruise, at which point she was already engaged. “From the moment I met him, it just felt like I’d known him forever. I was blown away. He’s the most incredible man. He’s so generous and kind, and he helps so many people, and, um, he makes me laugh like I’ve never laughed, and he’s a great friend ...” Robert Haskell, who interviewed Holmes and wrote the Wcover story, astutely noted: “This is how the conversation begins; this is also how it continues, and how it ends. No question can do much to change its course.” Did it ever cross her mind that maybe they were rushing into things? “Tom is the most incredible man in the world.” Did she feel even the slightest bit of pressure from Cruise to get married? “That’s ludicrous, because I mean, you have to know Tom. He is the most loving, generous man who ... first of all, he wants to help people. He doesn't put pressure on people. He is the kindest, smartest, most adoring man. It's a pleasure and a privilege to be with him.”

Seemingly, not much had changed as of March 2007, when Holmes talked about her hubby in Harper’s Bazaar. “Tom makes me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world and has since the day I met him. I love being with him. I love calling him husband." Katie has been more focused on motherhood in recent years, though Tom continued gushing about their love up to a few months ago. “I’m just happy, and I have been since the moment I met her, ”he told Playboywhile promoting Rock of Ages. “What we have is very special.”

When did the “honeymoon phase” end?

In the interview with W, Holmes vowed she and Cruise would “always be in the honeymoon phase.” The rose-colored glasses have since come off and the honeymoon phase presumably ended some time ago—but when exactly? One might posit that Holmes was beginning to see straight in the fall of 2009, when she enrolled daughter Suri in a Catholic pre-school. No home-schooling with a Scientology chaperone for her.

How much of Tom Cruise’s $250 million net worth will Katie Holmes get?

We can only guestimate on this one, since no details were released in the divorce settlement, though Holmes asked for a “suitable amount” in child support from Cruise in her divorce papers. According to their 2006 prenuptial agreement, Timereported, Holmes is entitled to at least $15 million—$3 million a year for each year they were married.

Who gets the Beverly Hills manse? And the one in the Hollywood Hills? And the three other properties they share?

Their prenup states that Katie is entitled to keep the $35 million, 10,286 square-foot Beverly Hills mansion she and Cruise purchased in April 2007, as reported in The Daily Mail. Of the four other homes that the former couple shared, Cruise gets to keep the Hollywood Hills house, as well as the ranch in Telluride, Colo., since he bought them both before he met Holmes. We’ll have to wait and see about their $15 million brownstone in Manhattan and another mansion in Montecito, Calif.

Will Suri be lured back by Xenu?

For those who are unfamiliar with Xenu, the dictator of a Galactic Confederacy who figures prominently in Scientology’s mythology, he’s a pretty powerful overlord and could end up giving Suri nightmares for years. But according to TMZ, part of the divorce settlement stipulates “restrictions” on the extent to which either Cruise or Holmes can discuss religion with Suri, including Scientology, until a certain age. So at least Cruise won’t be able to reference Xenu in Suri’s bedtime stories.